How to Cut and Design Your Own Images: Cricut Design Space

Cricut Design Space enables you to make Amazing designs, including your own images. Cricut Design Space let's you design your own images and let's you to upload them to Cricut Design Space!

Yes, it is that EASY!

I love this phrase and thought that I could use this phrase to make my own design using my Cricut Explore Air 2. So I gathered all my supplies that I would be needing and sat down to start designing my piece.

I use Pic Monkey to design and add images to photos, this is where I went to design my phrase. 

This is what your window will look like. Go to the design tab and it will open the design window. I already know the size of my project, the frame is 11 X 14, I will just click on Crop and it has a drop down menu. Click on 11 X 14. This will let you visualize what it will look like and help you with your font size.

I have typed out my phrase in the font that I found and centered it. If it looks good and you checked spelling, crop it down tighter to the image.  

Now save and name your image to your computer. Sign into Cricut Design Space and upload your image, since my image is black and white I choose simple image. By choosing this, it will eliminate the white background and make it all transparent.

HINT: You may have to click on some of the inside of letters to make them transparent also.  Your machine will also tell you this!

Everything is checked and now I am ready to cut my design. I used my teal vinyl and placed it on the Cricut standard cutting mat. 

I am now ready to cut!

I love how the machine basically tells you how to do it all. It tells you to load, check your dial for paper, vinyl, etc.... It even blinks when ready to GO!

Let's cut!

Now it is time to weed your project. Using the Cricut pick I can easily remove my little pieces.

Once done weeding, it is time for the transfer tape. Cut transfer tape to size and take backing off. Apply to design carefully and burnish with your Cricut scraping tool. once it is burnished well, remove tape and design slowly. 

Apply to glass on inside of frame. Burnish down and remove transfer tape at a 45 degree angle.

I made my own background using Eileen Hull Blends and water to give the appearance of watercolor. Once dried I added some glitter glue to give the appearance of Pixie Dust!!!

Insert into frame and stand back to admire your fabulous project you have made with the help of Cricut Design Space and Cricut Explore Air 2!

I adore this project and it was so simple! 

I have so many ideas for future projects! I have 4 g-kids and I can make so many personalized gifts, 

decorating projects for the play room and bedrooms! 

The possibilities are endless! 

I am going to a conference in two weeks and I am planning some fun personalized bags to put goodies in! I am looking forward to creating with Cricut Design Space and my Cricut Explore Air 2!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Eileen Hull Dies on Sale!

Have you heard? 

Big, big sale....did I say big? I meant HUGE!!!!

So in honor of this sale, the team put together a small blog hop of our favorite dies on sale! So many ideas, so many different designers. You can go to Eileen's HERE and follow along the hop.

We LOVE our Eileen Hull dies!!!!

Check out this Crinoline flower made from her Heart & Soul die, one of my favorites! This can be misted with spray ink or tea dyed. So pretty! It is available HERE.

These next two are made with the Needle Book! I love that I can make this into so many different designs and it is so easy! I love the look, no matter what design I use. The Valentine one has a Hershey bar inside. The Birthday one has a gift card! Perfect size for a gift card. Just add a removable Glue Dot® and adhere the gift card inside! You can get the Needle book HERE.

Show your patriotic side with this die or use it in your travel journal and scrapbook pages!

This is a 4 pc. Thinlits With the US map, road sign, stamp & postcard. I also used another thinlits die called Banners & Pennants. These two dies went so well together. You can find project HERE.

You can get the 4 pc Thinlits with the US Map HERE.

You can get the Banner & Pennants HERE.

I love this gift set I made for Leo's baby shower! The book is made with the Passport die! LOVE it!
You can see the full book HERE.

You can find the Passport book HERE.



Thanks for stopping by and make sure you pick up your favorite Eileen Hull dies while they are on sale!

Sale ends soon!

If you go to Eileen's blog HERE and add a photo of your favorite Eileen Hull project in the Linky and you may just win a prize!

String Art with Premier Yarns

Welcome, so glad you have stopped by today!

On this blog hop you are going to see so many different uses for Premier Yarns and you are going to LOVE them all! So many ideas from so many designers! 

**Disclosure:  This blog post includes products from Premier Yarns.  The yarn in this post was provided to me to create and share fun projects with my audience! This blog post is compensated.  All ideas and opinions are my own. 

I received this yarn called Spangle and the color is Emerald Crown from Premier Yarns, it is gorgeous! I did take a close up of the yarn so that you could see how beautiful this is. The Spangle is variegated and has a bit of a sparkle with a gold thread running through it. Since I don't crochet or knit, I needed another way to use this yarn. That is when string art came into play!

String Art is something I Did when I was younger.  My Dad owned a Hobby Shop and I was his go to gal to make the samples of the kits! So this is taking me back a few years. Wink, wink! I loved doing them and they have made such a comeback!

On this blog hop you are going to see so many different uses for yarn and I think you are going to LOVE them all! So many ideas from so many designers! 

Here is the close up Spangle - Emerald Crown, this still does not give it the justice it deserves. 

Okay, shall we get started?

What you will need:

Spangle by Premier Yarns

Wood

Nails

Hammer

Computer Generated Words

Tape

Pencil

Ruler

Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive

1. Gather all supplies.

 2. Tape paper onto wood.

3. Mark off where nail are to be pounded. This depends on the size of your design. I did approximately 1/4".

 4. Here comes the noise. (do not do while children are sleeping) Pound in all nails.

5. Make a slip knot and add to the first nail. I added glue to the knot for extra hold. (Just a dab) Do this at the end of each knot also.

6.  Start winding yarn around nails. I did a X like pattern. You can do any way you would like. Some   like to do a really tight weave and others a loose weave.

 7. On the smaller words, I just did an outline of the words. No pattern needed for those.

8. Wrap handle of the paddle with the Spangle yarn to give your piece extra color. 

I hope you enjoyed your time here. I have a surprise for you!!!

If you are interested in purchasing some Spangle or other yarn that Premier Yarns carries, I have a coupon code for you.

When placing your order you can use this code, this will give you 10% off your order: DB001

Here's a link to another fantastic maker project using Premier Yarns, by the talented Laura Neiman

Don't miss the next Midge and Madge Mingle, on Monday, April 2, the crafty duo will be showing you more ways to use Premier Yarns on Face book Live at Midge and Madge Mingle!

A Journal, A Coin Purse and a Banner! Oh my!

Have you heard?

Eileen Hull has a NEW COLLECTION coming!

You're going to LOVE it!

The whole team is so excited about the whole collection! 

The new collection is called HEARTFELT! It is so appropriately named, as you can see it can be used with felt.

My first project was made with two of the dies. First the Journal and second is the House/Pocket Stitchlet.

I made my journal into a to-go color journal for kids. So easy, stitch outside the journal and stitch the house into a pouch and add onto the front of journal. I added some paper to the inside and tied it shut. This can be refilled one all the paper is used!

 So FUN for the kids!

I had to make a little coin purse, just because the front of the journal turned out sew cute!

I used Eileen's Twist and Style tool for the handle. How adorable is this?

Last, I have a sweet little banner I made with the new Sizzix Thinlets Die Set, it is a 11 pack word Stitchlets. This was so quick and easy!

Again the handle was made with the Twist and Style tool.

Please check out the teams projects this month, they will blow you away! This collection is so fun and so easy to make each journal your own style! Head over to Eileen's HERE!

Makin's Clay® "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" Pin

Now that Valentines Day has come and gone, it is time for the Irish to get the dancing shoes and beer mugs out of the closet. I have made a sweet pin for all the Irish who want some free loving on that special day! If you are Irish or know someone who is, this is a pretty simple project to make. 

Supplies needed:

Makin's Clay®-Green

Makin's roller

Makin's mat

Makin's cutter - 4 leaf clover

Printer-paper

Thread or ribbon for bow

Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive

White paint

Instructions:

1. Gather all materials

2. Roll out clay to about 1/8" and use cutter to cut out clover

3. Roll out four balls of clay and work them onto the clover.

4. Work the clay together as you add each piece.

5. Smooth clay together. Let dry overnight. Once dry, add a coat of white paint and wipe off. This step is optional.

6. Print out on heavy card stock "kiss me, I'm Irish"  and adhere it to the clover with Beacon 3-in1.

7. Adhere a pin to the back of piece and let dry. Adhere a bow onto clover.

Hope you enjoyed this cute pin! If you're Irish, Enjoy your day!

Explore Air 2 is "EASY"

 Welcome!

I am so glad you are here. A few weeks ago I shared my new Cricut Explore Air 2. (see here) This week I am here to share how EASY it is to work!

Yes, I said EASY!

Project for today

+Official Cricut  has made it so EASY to use the Cricut Explore Air 2! I selected my design in the Cricut Design Space and it showed me everything I needed to complete my design. When it was time to start, it reminded me to set the dial to cardstock. I took some photos of the screen to show you how EASY it is!

Find project.

Clicked on photo and it gives the description, materials needed and the instructions.

Want to make this project? Cricut has made that really EASY! 

Make it now-Click on it and it will take you to the project page. That EASY!

Here is the project page. It shows which paper and what it will cut. Push GO when you are ready!

I am extremely excited about this, see that tool? That tool is a score tool and when placed into the machine it scores the paper for you! It SCORES!

This is really that EASY!!!

Here are the flowers cut. Just assemble as the instructions show or assemble your way!

I chose to put my branch into a vintage spool instead of a vase. That is how I made this project my own.

Here it is all finished! I LOVE how EASY and fun this project was!

Dare I say it again? EASY!

Start to finish, with me never running this machine before....45 minutes! 

Thanks for stopping by! Go check out the amazing projects you can do using your Cricut Explore Air 2.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Watercolored Caddy Bag

Welcome, I am so excited to share with you today!!!

This month on Eileen Hull's blog the team is using Eileen's Color Box Blends inks by Clearsnap®. The team is trying all different types of techniques. We would like to inspire you to try your Blends in different ways! So make sure you check Eileen Hull's Blog all month long for new techniques!

My thought was, "I wonder if the Blends would work like a water color?" 

YES! Yes they do and they look how awesome!

What you will need to make this project

Color Box Blends by Cleasnap®

• Sunshine
• Golden
• Nutmeg
• Beach
• Leaf
• Stop

Sizzix Little Sizzles Mat Board

Sizzix Die Caddy Bag by Eileen Hull

iCraft Easy-Cut Adhesive

Watercolor Paper 

Permanent Ink - Black

Brush

Paint Tray

Water-Container

Stamendous Stamp Fran's - Daisy Thanks

Here is how I did it!

Using the Sizzix die Caddy Bag by Eileen Hull, I covered both sides of Sizzix Mat Board with iCraft Easy Cut Adhesive and adhered the watercolor paper. Once covered I cut it out.

Stamp your pieces using permanent ink. You don't want any smearing once your water is added.

Using my plastic paint tray, I sponged the Blends onto the tray and started to paint. I just dipped my brush into water and then picked up the color of choice with the wet brush. 

Here is how the layering began. I just started with the Sunshine, added Golden and shaded a bit with Nutmeg on each of the petals. Centers are Nutmeg with a touch of Ebony. Background is Beach. (wish I was at the Beach) LOL! I really wet my brush and added Beach to it and gave the pieces a splatter.

You can blend these together to make other colors! I made orange by mixing Stop and Sunshine! 

Works great! 

Look at those cute little note cards to put in the "Caddy"! I simply cut card stock 3 1/4" X 3". Took a swipe of water and Beach to the top corner, added a splatter and let dry and stamped sentiment.

I love!!! 

So EASY!

We all LOVE easy!

I hope you enjoyed the technique I fell in LOVE with! I sure hope you give it a try!

Again make sure you visit Eileen Hull's blog all month long for the team's different techniques!